Residents of this Swiss town are paying $300K to keep refugees out

The wealthy residents of Oberwil-Lieli don’t want refugees roaming their streets, and they’re willing to pay a $300,000 fine to make sure that doesn’t happen.

The picturesque village, located just 10 miles outside Zurich, is virtually crime-free and home to just 2,200 residents — about 300 of them are millionaires. Earlier this month, they were faced with a vote on whether to take in just 10 refugees, and 52% voted to reject the asylum seekers.

The Swiss government had proposed a quota across its 26 counties as part of its plan to take on 50,000 asylum keepers, but Oberwil-Lieil wasn’t having it and opted to pay the penalty.

“We do not want them here it is as simple as that,” one resident told MailOnline. “We have worked hard all our lives and have a lovely village that we do not want it spoiled. We are not suited to take in refugees. They would not fit in here.”

The violence in Cologne on New Year’s Eve was just one of the factors that tipped the scales narrowly in favor of banning migrants, according to Oberwil-Lieli Mayor Andreas Glarner, a member of the right wing SVP party.

“The rejection was a protest at the quota being imposed on us by the government,” he told MailOnline. “Money could be sent to help them, but if we are housing them here it sends out the wrong message. Others will come and risk their lives crossing the ocean and paying people smugglers to bring them.”

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